Overwatch's generally optimistic lore seems to run on the concept that evil exists through cultivation. The villainous characters are evil not by their own natures, but by being shaped into villainy by their experiences and the circumstances surrounding them. However, this doesn't make their actions any more acceptable or their intent any more noble, and some fans get so wrapped up in the idea of them being victims that they lose sight of how many innocent people can claim to be their victims.
- Talon in particular gets a lot of slack thrown their way. If you had to go by fanworks alone, you would be forgiven for thinking they're just a bunch of mischievous, misunderstood troublemakers who are plum swell once you get to know them instead of gleefully murderous, warmongering terrorists. The addition of Baptiste and his short story "What You Left Behind" seems to lessen some of this sentiment because Baptiste's experience with Talon shows them to be murderous and inconsiderate of civilians. Sigma's origin story has also lessen this sentiment as well since it's very clear that Sigma has absolutely no clue that he's being used by Talon and they have little regards of him as anything other than a tool for their goals.
- Some find Reaper justified in his behavior due to the neglect and lack of recognition he had to endure as the head of Blackwatch and that it isn't "his fault" he became what he is now. Despite this, he still willingly chose to betray Overwatch, he still joined up with Talon and is carrying out an extermination campaign against former agents, many of whom had no involvement with what enabled his grievances, and he still seems to be enjoying himself.
- Widowmaker admittedly did not become who she is today by her own choice. Once, she was just an ordinary woman, and the grief she expresses for her husband appears to be genuine. Be that as it may, it doesn't change how she is currently a cold, scornful and sadistic mass murderernote who remains unapologetic for her crimes and, for all of her conditioning, is demonstrably lucid enough from moment to moment to choose to treat others in ways that often serve no purpose other than to be cruel for its own sake. While the circumstances surrounding her are indeed tragic, some fans have a habit of fixating on them while downplaying her own willfully bad behavior and the string of tragedies she's inflicted on characters just as innocent as her pre-conditioned self, often with a smile. And, as usual, you've also got the standard crowd who are willing to give her a free pass just because she's attractive and shows more skin than the other girls.
- Sombra's history as an orphan who was raised by gang members in war-torn Mexico and is currently investigating a vast global conspiracy has gotten her some sympathizers who view her as someone who's had to claw her way up from nothing and is the only person doing anything about the "big picture" problems in the world. Yet this interpretation hinges upon both her being honest about herself and acting outside of her self-interest when she has proven herself with her very first appearance of being readily capable of dishonesty for her own personal gain. And even if she is on the level, she has plainly demonstrated that she has no issue with lying, stealing, threatening innocents and in general treating people like tools to get what she wants.
- Doomfist's surprisingly eloquent demeanor and lethal efficiency have earned him the admiration of some fans who are alarmingly quick to overlook how his philosophizing masks a vicious, uncaring desire to plunge an already exhausted and war-ravaged world into a constant state of meaningless carnage and suffering due to his twisted perception that humanity is strengthened through conflict and only the strong should survive, which effectively means his goal is to use war as a tool to cull the human race, with only people like himself likely to actually benefit from such a plan.
- Moira gets some sympathizers who view her as an outcast who was maligned by her peers for her unorthodox goals and was left with no recourse other than to accept help from an unlikely, questionable source to pursue her lofty goals for the world. All this disregards how her ambitions amount to imposing her own twisted vision onto humanity without its consent under pretenses that are quite dubious for a legitimate scientist, or that — for all her talk about having the best for humanity in mind — she was perfectly willing to follow and enable her company on its path to becoming the world's most notorious terrorist organization as long as the cash kept flowing for her demented research.
- Some find Reaper justified in his behavior due to the neglect and lack of recognition he had to endure as the head of Blackwatch and that it isn't "his fault" he became what he is now. Despite this, he still willingly chose to betray Overwatch, he still joined up with Talon and is carrying out an extermination campaign against former agents, many of whom had no involvement with what enabled his grievances, and he still seems to be enjoying himself.
- Symmetra tends to get hit with this trope within the fandom, where she's usually portrayed as unambiguously heroic. While her backstory is extremely sympathetic, and she truly does want to improve peoples' lives, her fans tend to forget that she's at best an Anti-Villain who's currently working for Vishkar Corp. Not only does she actively antagonize people who oppose Vishkar (like Lúcio), she's terribly elitist and condescending towards poor people (despite coming from a lower class background herself) whilst rationalizing Vishkar's actions and doing their dirty work under the naive assumption that it was For the Greater Good. Being confirmed by Word of God to be autistic also let fans to have the tendency to excuse her elitist attitude.
- Of course, Junkrat and Roadhog are funny (and half-naked!), and they may be a product of the harsh conditions of their homeland if you're willing to be charitable enough. They're still wanted criminals who are unambiguously presented as a pair of thieves and killers. Even after Wasted Land provided Roadhog with a Sympathetic P.O.V. that explored his reasons for harboring such antipathy for the world, it should not be ignored that his response is to perpetuate the chaos and make things worse instead of doing anything to help.
- Vishkar in general gets this treatment from some, especially those who take their whole "for a better world" schtick at face value. Comments are not unheard of that say the inhabitants of Rio's favelas should be grateful for the shiny new home the company provided for them, despite how the reason they needed that new home in the first place is because Vishkar flagrantly ignored their stance on the issue and firebombed the neighborhood. Vishkar may have a lot of spiffy tech, and they may genuinely want the world to be more secure, but that doesn't mean for a second that they value the lives of the people they "help" as much as their own goals.
- Additionally, those who defend Vishkar also tend to cite the real life conditions of Brazilian favelas (which are notorious for criminal activity and gang violence which is also widespread within the nation, there's a reason that the phrase "You're going to Brazil!"
is considered a 'scare off' meme that rose in the middle of 2020.) as a justification for their decision to choose that location as the site for their next project beyond the profit opportunities. Lúcio claims that his favela was peaceful until Vishkar arrived on the scene, but we only have his word and a few small scenes of some admittedly decent people to reinforce that, which puts the whole issue into a nebulous area of using reality to judge fiction which is itself light on details.
- Additionally, those who defend Vishkar also tend to cite the real life conditions of Brazilian favelas (which are notorious for criminal activity and gang violence which is also widespread within the nation, there's a reason that the phrase "You're going to Brazil!"
- Torbjörn and Zarya are not bad people, but some fans interpret their hostility toward omnics as either perfectly acceptable or as some amusing little quirk when the story clearly intends to present it as a flaw they each need to overcome. To be fair, they have made progress: Zarya cooperates with an omnic in Searching, while Torbjörn not only does the same with Bastion in Binary, but also eventually received a friendly in-game interaction with it. OW 2 voicelines also reveal that Zarya is more willing to relate with Omnics (underlined by her conversation with Zenyatta about dreams), and more significantly, Torbjorn has completely revised his prejudice against Omnics, a perspective he can sometimes reflect on in Nepal's spawnroom. He has also apparently developed a genuine friendship with Bastion.
- Ramattra will sometimes get this due to having one of the more sympathetic backstories of the Overwatch villains, and having what's ultimately a noble goal at heart. That is, of course, ignoring the fact that he's the leader of a terrorist organization and has absolutely no qualms about using massive, worldwide destruction and violence to obtain his goals, even going so far as to indoctrinate his own people. Affably Evil as he may be, he's still a dangerous, calculating extremist.
